Office of the Historian

320. Telegram From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State0

Warsaw, December 8, 1959, 5 p.m.

971. USUN for Lodge. Beam–Wang Talks. 94th meeting two hours.1 I opened with strong protest on Bombay incident based first two paragraphs Deptel 660.2 Wang replied from prepared statement [Page 639] charging US with inverting facts and lodging protest against alleged US kidnapping of Chinese citizen. Brief give and take followed with each restating principal points in respective versions of incident.

I inquired as to Peiping’s reaction our draft agreed announcement of November 6 and Wang reiterated his rejection of draft along line he took at last meeting. Also accused US of attempting sow discord between Peiping and Moscow by use of joint Soviet-US communiqué. He referred me to Khrushchev’s expressions of support for Peiping on Taiwan issue in Khrushchev’s October 31 speech as evidence solidarity [garble] Soviet alliance. I responded with prepared statement based third and fourth paragraphs reference telegram. This produced brief give and take centered around Kuo Mo-jo’s demands.

I made statement on prisoners referring to amnesty and ChiCom “policy of leniency”. Wang simply replied that categories of persons included under amnesty were business of Chinese Government and that he had nothing further to say. I reminded Wang of his side’s obligations under agreed announcement which produced further exchange along familiar lines.

Wang replied to my statement on Bishop Walsh that he like other foreign prisoners was free to communicate with his family and it was not his government’s fault if Walsh did not choose to write. I requested information on Walsh’s welfare but Wang said he had nothing to give us at this time.

Meeting ended following inconclusive exchange on parcel delivery question.

I proposed next meeting January 12. Wang countered with Tuesday, January 19, 2:00 p.m., which I accepted.

Beam
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/12–859. Confidential; Priority; Limit Distribution. Received at 12:51 p.m. on December 9. Also sent to USUN and repeated to Taipei. The documents cited in footnotes 1 and 2 below are in the Supplement.↩
  2. Beam sent his comments and recommendations in telegram 973 from Warsaw, December 9, and a transcript of the meeting in airgram G–105, December 11. (Ibid., 611.93/12–959 and 611.93/12–1159)↩
  3. Telegram 660 to Warsaw, December 4, conveyed Beam’s instructions for the meeting. The first two paragraphs instructed him to register a strong protest against an incident in Bombay on November 26, in which a member of the U.S. Consulate General staff, while accompanying a member of the Chinese Consulate General staff who had asked for political asylum, was seized by personnel of the Chinese Consulate, bound, and held for about 6 hours. (Ibid., 611.93/12–459)↩